Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) represents a novel bot-wire CVD variant for producing copolymer thin films. iCVD copolymerization was characterized by a conventional liquid-phase free radical copolymerization equation when applied to methacrylic acid copolymers. FTIR peak shifts with changing comonomer ratios in the copolymers further supported a copolymerization mechanism. Crosslinked methacrylic acid copolymers provided pH-dependent swelling behavior that enabled an enteric release of active core material when the copolymer was used as an encapsulation coating. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.